1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a print control technique for allowing an image forming apparatus such as a printer or the like on a network to execute printing on the basis of an instruction from a client apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional multifunction terminal apparatus, in a file in a TIFF-F format, a tag code which is inherently used to express a type (resolution, the number of colors, etc.) of data is expanded and a tag code including print control information is added, thereby realizing print control of image data.
Subsequently, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-358114 will be simply explained. According to it, there has been proposed a multifunction terminal apparatus characterized by comprising a print control unit for controlling in a manner such that a file comprising a tag code and encoded image data and a tag code including print control information added to the file on a transmitting source side are received via a network, image data for printing is formed by compounding the tag code and the encoded image data, and printing is executed under conditions designated by the tag code including the print control information. In FIG. 18, reference numeral 1801 denotes a file in a TIFF-F format which has conventionally widely been known as a standardized file format for handling image data; 1802 a tag code indicative of a type of data; 1803 image data; and 1804 a tag code additionally formed in order to add print control information. The receiving and printing operations in the above conventional apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 19. In the multifunction terminal apparatus, when the file 1801 in the TIFF-F format and the tag code 1804 including the print control information described in FIG. 18 are received (step S1901), the file 1801 in the TIFF-F format is analyzed by a TIFF-F analyzing unit (step S1902), and the image data 1803 is compounded by an encoding compounding unit (step S1903). The tag code is analyzed by a print control unit (step S1904), sent as a printer control command to a printer unit, and print processed (step S1905). An example of a similar system has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-358114.
Although the above system is based on a method using a feature such that an application which handles TIFF data ignores a data tag which cannot be handled by itself, it cannot be applied to an image data format such as JPEG, BMP, or the like in which such a tag code cannot be included. Those conventional techniques have a problem such that a format of the image data serving as a print target is limited, or the like.